Red Bull star admits 'point to prove' ahead of HUGE winter decision

Yuki Tsunoda is looking to ‘prove a point’ in the 2024 season as he eyes a Red Bull seat for 2025.

The Japanese driver has displayed some impressive performances in qualifying so far this year, with 11th in Bahrain and getting into Q3 in the last two races in Saudi Arabia and Australia.

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However, some mistimed strategy calls and bad luck meant Tsunoda was unable to capitalise on his strong showings in qualifying in the opening two rounds.

But in Australia, the 23-year-old kept out of trouble and drove his VCARB01 to eighth place, which was promoted to seventh after Fernando Alonso’s post-race penalty for his incident with George Russell.

The six points from Tsunoda propelled Visa Cash App RB to sixth in the constructors’ standings ahead of Haas as he was finally able to build upon his strong one-lap pace on Saturdays.

Tsunoda is in the running for the possibly vacant Red Bull seat to replace Sergio Perez next season, along with team-mate Daniel Ricciardo, and heading into his home race in Suzuka, he is hoping to prove he is good enough to make the step up.

Speaking with F1.com after the race in Australia, he said: “The team did a fantastic job throughout the week, consistent from FP1, top 10 consistently and finally able to score the points. We just needed these points to have a good start to the season.

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“I would say very, very happy with my performance. I think particularly this week we were very consistent. Also, the qualifying last three races, pretty good as well.

"I needed a bit of a good race, clean race to prove I could also have a good, strong race not just the qualifying and I think this was a good race – this as the race I was able to prove [that] and I just keep to what I’m doing and hopefully also I can score points in Suzuka as well.”

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